Guido Rückel grew up in a very musical family in Berlin. The desire to play percussion instruments was present all his life. When he turned thirteen, his parents exchanged the pots, pans and rubbish bins he had been thwacking on until then for a real drum set. While taking lessons at the Berlin-Reinickendorf Music School, Guido Rückel played in the symphony and wind orchestras of his school (Georg-Herwegh-Gymnasium in Hermsdorf) as well as in the Reinickendorf Music School big band. As early as 1991, while Guido Rückel was beginning his studies, majoring in music education at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin, he was already playing in several soul-funk-rock formations, changing his major at the Academy of the Arts in 1993 to "tympani/percussion" with Thomas Lutz and Hans Ulrich. After a three-year stint with the Young German Philharmonic, Guido Rückel began a one-year engagement as a trainee with the Berlin Symphony. In November 1996 he was accepted into the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where he received instruction from Rainer Seegers (tympani) and Franz Schindlbeck (percussion). Since September 1997, Guide Rückel has been solo tympanist with the Munich Philharmonic, and has also been teaching on a regular basis since 1999 (Orchestra Academy, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, inter alia) and also helps out occasionally in significant German orchestras and chamber music ensembles. In his free time, Guido works on improving his cooking talents (specializing in Italian cuisine), travels to countries where the temperatures are significantly higher than in Germany, and also obstinately tries to plumb the secrets of tympani stick construction.
